Iain Macwhirter

Scotland

Political Columnist and Commentator at The Herald (Scotland)

Columnist. Times, Spectator Author: "Disunited Kingdom" -"Still best book on independence vote". Ex BBC TV/ radio presenter. Former Rector Edinburgh University.

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Articles

Iain Macwhirter's Substack

2 weeks ago | iainmacwhirter.substack.com | Iain Macwhirter

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Misogyny bill is set for the 'woke' scrapheap

2 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Iain Macwhirter
It's time the government stopped funding trans pressure groups

3 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Iain Macwhirter
Iain Macwhirter's Substack

3 weeks ago | iainmacwhirter.substack.com | Iain Macwhirter

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Racism v misogyny: who wins?

4 weeks ago | iainmacwhirter.substack.com | Iain Macwhirter

On the morning of 3 May 2015, police were called to a residential district of Kirkcaldy following reports of a man high on drugs running berserk with a knife and threatening local people. After a scuffle, in which a female police officer was assaulted by the man, six officers attempted to restrain him. He lost consciousness and later died in hospital of asphyxiation. This is not an uncommon cause of death among people high on Flakka, the drug alpha-PVP, which was discovered in his bloodstream.
For Nicola Sturgeon, justice delayed is justice denied

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Iain Macwhirter
The sorry fate of Nicola Sturgeon

1 month ago | spectator.co.uk | Iain Macwhirter

The first thing to say is that Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared in an investigation into the SNP’s funding and finances, with no case to answer, scot-free. That may seem a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but there are many in and out of the independence movement who do not and never will believe that she is wholly innocent. No smoke without fire. Who was it that set up the £600,000 fund in 2017 for a referendum campaign that never happened?
So what was all that about?

1 month ago | iainmacwhirter.substack.com | Iain Macwhirter

The publishers won’t be happy. Nicola Sturgeon’s autobiography, Frankly, which is due to be published in August, will have to be partially rewritten now that she has been cleared by police of any wrongdoing under Operation Branchform. This is the investigation, begun three years ago, into the alleged misuse of £600,000 in donations solicited by Ms Sturgeon in 2017 for a referendum campaign that never happened. She was arrested in June 2023 and questioned about her involvement.
SNP spending on welfare is unsustainable

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Iain Macwhirter
Nicola Sturgeon’s dismal legacy

1 month ago | spectator.com.au | Iain Macwhirter

The departure of the former Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, from active politics draws a line under the Scottish National Party’s greatest generation. Her former mentor, Alex Salmond, died suddenly of a heart attack in October. Now, Sturgeon has told her supporters that “the time is right for me to embrace different opportunities and to allow you to select a new standard-bearer”.